Ice Toolz chain scrubber, £7.95

Cycling Active May 2012

Award: Best on a Budget

Score: 9/10

Text: As its name suggests, this tiny little box acts more like a nailbrush for the chain, after which flexible paddles scrape the dirt off. Despite its size, its very effective. It may well have a tiny fluid capacity, but between refills it gets a surprising amount of road grime off the metal. Although your hands will get dirty, it’s small enough and quick enough to use that it could almost be done after every ride, so you’d need minimal cleaning, each time.

Summary: When it came to the budget end of the market, there was only one cleaner we can truly recommend. Trying to shoehorn lots of plastic rollers into a cheaply made bath isn’t always effective, so the simple Ice Tools cleaner was the standout product.

Item: BBB MaxiFold L Folding Tool
Title: Cycling Active
Award? Test Winner
Score: 9/10
Text: Of all the tools in the test with a chain tool, the BBB has the most effective and easy-to-use. A fold-out handle and integrated pin extractor mean that, even though you need to use the body of the tool to turn the pin extractor, leverage is easily achieved – this seemed far superior to using two halves of a tool to do this job. The spoke wrenches are the usual faff: difficult to access and gauge accurately, and metallic tyre levers simply scare us, but in terms of scale and ease of use, we were pretty impressed with this mid-sized tool.

Summary: When it comes to a test winner, it’s an easy split. If you have separate tools at home and want a bells-and-whistles multi-tool for use on the road, the BBB wins hands-down.

Ice Toolz produce a range of cycle tools for the home and for the workshop, here are the tools to help you with Hydraulic disc brakes.

54P1: Needle Driver
Easily inserts hydraulic needle joints in to the hose with perfect alignment. Patented design. £34.95

54R1: Hydraulic Brake Bleeding Kit.
Universal design for all hydraulic brake systems. Supplied in plastic hard case. £39.95

It's all good in the wood

The future isn't orange, its red! After nearly one year of volunteers sculpting chalk and carving a trail at Queen Elizabeth Country Park in the heart of the Southdown’s, the QECP Trail Building Collective are ready to present their efforts to the Mountain Biking World. The trail launch will take place at 12 noon on May 19th where the Collective will unveil what they have done and reveal their exciting plans for the future of the park, which will remain volunteer led.

Anyone that hasn't been to the park for a while will be in for a surprise, as extra trail has been built along with the renovation of some of the best bits of the old loop, turning the old orange “advanced” route into an exciting 5 mile red graded loop that will give you smiles for miles.

Situated on the A3 just south of Petersfield, Queen Elizabeth Country Park couldn't be easier to get to. So pop down to see what has been created during this trail revolution.

For more information contact info@qecptrailcollective.co.uk

Connect the collective on facebook and twitter

(download)

Click here to download:

queen-elizabeth-country-park-trail-launch-19th-may-cDrEBDvykmqpChEyawdy.zip (1.04 MB)

Ice Toolz headset cup remover - E221 (1" to 1 1/8"), E223 (1 1/4" to 1 1/2"), ssp £19.95

Press release: FSA K Force 386 Evo

The FSA K Force 386 Evo is a new crank and b/b system that brings together all of the most popular b/b standards in a one-crank-fits-all solution. The 386 Evo combines the lightness and stiffness of the BB30 design with the Q factor of a traditional set up. 386 Evo is innovation not for the sake of innovation, but innovation for actual improvement.

The 386 Evo improves on the BB30/PF30 design with a wider bearing stance to increase bottom bracket stiffness and stability and offers a straighter arm shape for greater rigidity. The 386 Evo also improves on the traditional BSA threaded design, with an alloy 30mm diameter axle offering an increased stiffness to weight ratio.

Special Offer 

Starting from April 1^st and running to May 31^st the K Force 386 Evo and b/b combination will be available at just £449.95, saving an incredible 40% from the SSP £749.95. The 386 Evo is available with either BB30, PF30 (press fit) and BSA (68mm threaded) compatible bottom brackets.

The 40% saving is available via any FSA UK dealer using a downloadable voucher. You can find the voucher on the Windwave and Full Speed Ahead websites, facebook pages and supporting blogs. 

(download)

Click here to download:

fsa-386-evo-special-offer-CuwfpvpjfdEitAnjaGaG.zip (1.83 MB)

Click here to download:

POSTER_ROTTAMAZIONE_ENG-NEW.pdf (4.6 MB)

(download)

Click here to download:

POSTER_ROTTAMAZIONE_ENG-NEW.pdf (4.6 MB)

The Queen Elizabeth Country Park Collective would like to invite you to the launch of the new red (yet to be named) mountain bike trail at Queen Elizabeth Country Park near Petersfield in Hampshire on Saturday 19^th May 2012. By that time the Collective would have added nearly 2km of extra trail to the existing orange trail, as well as tidying up and improving bits of the old trail. By then the Collective will have been working on the trail for one year, with thousands of hours of planning and digging done by volunteers with the assistance of one of the Park’s Rangers. The budget for all the work is £0 and at the moment we are still within the budget!

This is not the end of the work. There are still many years of digging ahead but we would like to invite you to celebrate with us the remarkable achievement made by a remarkable group of volunteers that are focused on building mountain bike trails that everyone can use. At 12 noon on 19^th May at the park visitor centre there will be a presentation made by members of the collective where the trail will become officially “open”. You are then invited on a tour round the trail and are welcome to join The Collective at “QE-Palooza”. A beer and pork fuelled party to celebrate the work that has been done. Please let us know if you will be able to attend the launch and how many will be coming so we can reserve seats for the presentation and know how much porcine loveliness to prepare.

That weekend Hargroves Cycles have organised a cycle festival at QE park, which will include a kids race, enduro race, live music and a demo day on 20^th May. We have scheduled our launch so as not to clash with the activities Hargroves are putting on. There will also be camping facilities available should you wish to stay overnight.

Queen Elizabeth Country Park is situated on the A3, 45 minutes south of the M25 http://www3.hants.gov.uk/countryside/qecp/map-qecp.htm . If you would like any more information on the launch then please contact qecptrailbuilding@yahoo.co.uk or check out the QECP mountain bike trail build facebook page. Connect on twitter with @ElDiabloBrewery

Many thanks,

The QECP Collective

Viva la trail revolution!

** PR text via Jamie Beaton (@ElDiabloBrewery) who tirelessly works on behalf of the QECPC

Vision Trimax T42
Triathlon Plus “Top Value”

These mid-section wheels from FSA are a tight, tidy easy-handling semi-aero set-up for the money. The 42mm section rim dosen’t carve the wind as well as deeper sets, but it’s less likely to be blown about in more gusty conditions.
While weight is average, the fact that there’s less in the rims mean they light up easily under power and they climb better than deeper wheels too. The hand-built straight-pull bladed spoke build gives a very tight accurate feel overall, and braking is consistent. That makes them more versatile than most deeper section wheels in terms of course profile, wind conditions and bike suitability. FSA wheels have a good reputation for long term smoothness, and these have spun sweetly throughout extended testing. Quick-release levers are good quality too, and you even get tyre covers.

Vision Trimax Pro
220 Triathlon “Best Buy”

The cheapest wheelset on test by a long way, Vision’s alloy clinchers tip the scales at a promising 1520g. They’re hand built so maintenance and truing should be easy, and they come with high-quality Spim areo bladed spokes. The 30mm rim isn’t going to deliver any significant aero advantage and, out on the road they don’t give that slicing-though-the-air-feeling or sound. That doesn’t mean that this is a slow wheelest though. Despite their light weight there was no flex and they delivered a springy and lively ride. When pointed uphill, they flew and we’d have no hesitation riding hem on big mountain climbs. When you consider that you can spend £1000-£1500 on a bike and only be specced a £100-£150 wheelset, these make a great value upgrade. You’d be happy to use them for everyday riding and they won’t let you down on race day.